Finding Myself Again

Chapter 10: The Song of Silence

When Marinette steps out of the portal, Paris is quiet. To quiet. She stalks the streets, looking for the akuma that caused this unnatural silence that blankets the usually loud city.

She passes Master Fu’s old massage parlor. She passes her previous home. And shortly after passing the bakery, she arrives at the school that causes the most of the previous akuma’s. Her old school.

In front of the building, students gesture wildly at another, talking but no sound escape from their open mouths. Definitely a silencing akuma. But then she notices other students walking with their hands in front of their bodies, some tripping over minuscule things they could easily sidestep or another student guiding them around. The only sound comes from the handful of students shouting that they can’t hear anything that the other people are says- that is if they can talk.

Okay… this is different.

The group of heroes make their way to the next akuma hotspot; The Eiffel Tower. The trip doesn’t take long and doesn’t come out as a fruitful attempt because hunched over and sitting on a ledge towards the top of the tower, is a brightly colored girl.

Ladybug softly lands besides her, studying the akuma. The girl’s vivid red hair is pulled up into a long ponytail, and is clothed in a turquoise and dark purple trench coat with light brown pants and black boots. When the girl doesn’t respond, she lets out a small “hey”. 

The akuma looks up at the red and black clad hero. Stark against her pale skin is a black x wrapped around the lower part of her face and pale violet eyes.

Please.

Ladybug jolts at the unfamiliar voice in her head, but calms when she notices that it’s the akuma’s way of speaking. “Please what? What’s your name?”

Claris- she flinches and tears form in her eyes- Mutinizer. Please, Ladybug. Make it stop. Stop the pain this power brings upon both me and Paris. She turns her gaze from Ladybug to the city below. I never wanted this power. He forced me to comply because I cannot speak up for myself. Mutinizer grabs the wooden staff next to her and presents it to Ladybug. Please make the pain stop. She bows her head, waiting.

The red heroine regards the girl, studying her for any traps and takes her staff when she concludes that she’s being genuine.

Mouse Noir steps up from behind Ladybug and calls for her cataclysm to destroy the object. When she grazes her fingertips across the staff, it disintegrates into dust that slips through her fingers. From the grey ashes emerges a black butterfly that is quickly caught by Ladybug and purified.

In the place where the akuma previously kneeled is a girl with red hair, about the same age as Marinette. The heroine crouches down and lays a hand on her shoulder.

“Do you want to talk about it? I didn't use my Luck Charm, so I have some time.” The red head nods vigorously and tears start to spill down her cheeks. She begins to sign her story, hoping that the bug themed hero would understand.

I recently moved here from London and transferred to a school called College Frances DuPont. Realization dawns upon the bluenette and she already knows where this is going. The only spot they had available was in Ms. Bustier’s class because a student recently transferred to America and another is missing. She pauses briefly before continuing. When everyone noticed that I only speak through sign language, I was approached by a girl named Lila Rossi. She told me she remembers talking to me at a deaf convention back in London and when I wrote down that I’m not deaf and neither is she, so why was she there? She was confused and then said that she has tinnitus in her right ear, but I know that’s not true. Tinnitus is a medical condition, not deafness, so when I pointed this out, she started crying and everyone banged up on me.

Later, I found out that the girl that transferred to America was named Marinette Dupain- Cheng and I was star struck. She turns to Ladybug. Did you know she was able to convince Clara Nightingale, Jagged Stone, and Audrey Bourgeois to donate money to studies that help people like me? Yes, Ladybug knows but she still shakes her head no. Yes, she did. She’s done many things for charities like that. So why do they all hate her? From what I gather, it’s because she knew that Lila was a liar.

Marinette blinks at the mute girl, surprised. Apparently, everyone thought that she was deaf so they didn’t sensor what they say in front of her. They even insulted her right to her face, which caused this akumatization. Dazly, she drops the girl off at the school and makes her way back to the place that Mare previously opened the portal. The glowing disk was already waiting for her, so she immediately stepped through, and into her room at the Manor.

When she unmerges all the miraculous, leaving her with just the mouse, she drops her transformation.

“Tikki, that class is bullying a mute student. This is starting to get bad. Really bad.” When her kwami- or any of the kwami- doesn’t answer, she turns around in confusion.

In her desk chair sit the one and only Jason Todd with a mouthful of cookies crumbs nearly falling out of his gaping mouth. “And this isn’t good either.”

Meanwhile in Paris…

Clarissa Harper slowly walks back to class, bracing herself to the hell to come. She opens the old, heavy door and steps into her classroom, only to find it empty.

...What?

Now that she thinks about it, the courtyard and halls were also vacant following her recent akumatization. Where was everyone? Ignoring the fact that no one- not even the teacher- is in the room, she still sits in her seat in the back- the same seat Marinette sat in!- and pulls out the assignment they were working on before she was turned.

Halfway through the worksheet on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the door opens to reveal a very smug Lila Rossi.

“I thought I might find you in here. Whenever there’s an attack, school’s cut short.” Clarissa watch’s Lila’s slow approach to her desk. “But that’s not why I’m here.” Suddenly, she slams her hands down on the girl’s desk and sneers down at her. “You know that I’m lying. But you can’t do anything about it. If you try to expose me like Marinette,” she spits out the name like it tastes foul, “you’ll end up just like her. Bruised, broken and gone.” The brunette leans in to whisper the last word into the other girl’s ear. She pulls away before continuing her threat. “Then again, it’s not like you can say anything. All you got is your hands, but oh no, what would happen if an accident occurs and you just cannot use them? Now that would be a shame, wouldn’t it?” She turns sharply from the table and sashays down the steps. “So I suggest you keep silent or some unfortunate things are going to happen.” She cackles maniacally at her own sick joke as she walks out of the classroom.

Is this what she did to Marinette for the last five years? How did she do it? How did she survive?